Lazarus Series

I. "I am not dead,"
says the bulb
dug up too soon.
But who trusts a bulb?
They live in the dark
buried and hiding
behind the crumbling blanket
of the soil. Or under
the sink in a
discarded pot. Not
meant to see
daylight
"But I am not dead,"
the bulb speaks again
wanting to live
above ground
with those who seek the sun
without being crushed
by that which is foreign.

II. Lazarus stunk
when he was resurrected. We
often forget that part.
God embodied
in Christ
befriended, grieved,
and then brought
him back to life.
But he stunk!
It was
resurrection with the residue
of the dead clinging
before awakening
to life
as the second chance
carnival trick
for Jesus.

III. (omitted)

IV. Then there's the
Lazarus
of my childhood
who keeps rising
to the surface of the waters.
Ozark waters.
Murky-green, reflecting
the trees.
Push that corpse
'til you can't see the sin
that stains us all.
But we all float
like a pingpong ball.
Maybe that's why I like SVU
for the truth,
the prophetic honesty,
between commercials.